#so Gen VII just gave us literally nothing of value tbh

[sage-nebula]

The most frustrating thing about the main stories of Gen VI (Kalos) and Gen VII (Alola) is that Game Freak quite clearly hasn’t lost their touch entirely. They still can make great characters and write fantastic stories if they want to. They just seem to be refusing for the primary stories of each generation.

Take Gen VI for example. Anyone who knows me knows that I think the characters and narrative of Gen VI were garbage for a lot of reasons. I won’t get into all of the specifics now, but the tl;dr is that I felt that while there were very, very serious concepts introduced in the narrative of Gen VI, there was no emotional gravitas put behind them. They weren’t taken seriously. Combine this with the fact that the characters were shallow and two-dimensional at best (with so many of them being superfluous---you could have easily yanked Trevor and Tierno out of the game and nothing of value would be lost), and you have something that is not only a massive waste of time, but a massive waste of time that stops you every five seconds to force you to pay attention to it. It’s terrible. It’s beyond terrible. It’s an excruciating disappointment after the majesty that was Gen V, and yet . . . and yet the Kalos games still have some glimmer to them, a diamond in the rough, in the form of the post-game. The post-game was fantastic. The post-game carried emotional gravitas; while the fact that a grown man had stripped a teenage girl of her agency and made her do whatever he wanted her to do while she retained no memory of it was horrifyingly glossed over, that girl---Emma---had more depth and characterization than all of the other characters in Kalos combined. Her struggles held emotional significance. She was someone you could at least sympathize with, if not empathize with, and root for. You wanted her to succeed. And since you actually got to see her relationship with Looker develop, you felt your heartstrings yanked on when they separated at the end. To this day there are people who still want Looker to go back to Kalos for Emma, and that fact is a testament to how effective Kalos’ post-game story was in comparison to the flimsy mess that was its primary story.

Gen VII’s Alola games were a similar mess. To be fair, they had promise; the promotional materials (along with so many other things) promised to deliver on the alchemy plot that has been building for several generations now. The characters, too, were interesting for the most part; while some of them were once again underdeveloped and didn’t capitalize on the potential they could have had (Kukui), or else just underutilized despite the importance they should have had in the plot (Burnet), others had massive potential, both in their depth at the outset, as well as the potential for development as the story progressed (Aether family). Yet, was any of this capitalized on? No. The abused children in the narrative were disrespected in the end and made to go back to their abusive parent. The first female villain in the series wasn’t allowed to be treated as a villain. And all of this was even worse in the “Ultra” games, which make the original games look good by comparison (and particularly considering the fact that the gameplay was worse in Gen VII than it was in Gen VI, that’s a feat).

But still, I find it hard to say that Game Freak has lost their touch when you dial back a bit and look at Gen VI’s Hoenn remakes. While it’s true that the main story of the Hoenn remakes was just slightly updated from the original games, the Delta Episode was brand new and absolutely fantastic. It incorporated characters you had met throughout the main story, and starred one that was there, her plans were foreshadowed, you just might not have paid her too much mind on a first playthrough. And that character, Zinnia? She’s a well-rounded character with depth and, once again, a compelling arc that makes you care about her. Yes, she has her haters, and there are a slew of distasteful reasons for why that is, but the simple fact of the matter is that Zinnia is a compelling individual. However the narrative might have ultimately disrespected her in the name of making the player feel important, the truth is that Zinnia is one of the most compelling, and one of the deepest characters Game Freak has made to date. They did that. In 2014, they did that. True, that was four years ago, but it was only one generation ago. If they did it then, they can do it again.

And that’s what’s frustrating. In Gen V, they gave us a phenomenal story. In Gen VI, they gave us phenomenal post-games (since, again, the main story of ORAS was brought over from Gen III). Gen VII gave us literally nothing of value. But my point is that they can do this. They can do a good job with their characters and their narrative. Why they seem so averse to doing this in the main plot of the game, the one players spend the most time with, is beyond me, but I really, really wish they’d change their minds and get their acts together soon.

Here’s hoping they do so by the time Gen VIII rolls around.